This invention relates generally to apparatus for atomizing fuel supplied to the combustion chamber of an engine or furnace, and more particularly to a fuel-atomizing unit adapted to be interposed between the carburetor and intake manifold of an internal-combustion engine.
The modern era is marked by a growing concern with the inadequate supply of fuel and the rising cost thereof, as well as with the ecological damage resulting from the emission of pollutants from fuel-burning engines and furnaces. Hence while there is a strong international interest in reducing pollutants emanating from automobiles and oil burners, there is at the same time a great desire to effect economies in fuel consumption to conserve the available fuel.
Many expedients heretofore suggested to control pollution have been at the expense of fuel economy. For example, catalytic converters which are designed for installation in the exhaust of a vehicle to cut down the emission of pollutants have an adverse effect on the efficiency of the engine and cause the engine to burn more gasoline. Thus whatever is gained in ecological terms is contradicted by significant economic losses.
In an internal-combustion engine, the pollutants are constituted by oxides of nitrogen, unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. But it is not only the emission from the engine exhaust into the atmosphere which creates an ecological problem, for the emitted substances give rise to chemical reactions in the atmosphere when radiant energy is supplied thereto by the sun. Thus the smog now encountered in many major cities is largely the result of photochemical reactions involving unburned hydrocarbons from automobile exhausts. These unburned hydrocarbons are also responsible for inefficient engine operation, in that carbon deposits are formed on the walls of combustion chambers.
Thus with existing internal-combustion engines, a measurable portion of the fuel supplied thereto remains unburned and is discharged. This not only results in an uneconomical engine operation, but it also contaminates the atmosphere.
Attempts have heretofore been made to interpose an atomizer between the carburetor and the intake of the engine to insure complete combustion of the fuel. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,290 discloses a unit in the form of a strainer for the fuel-air mixture operating in conjunction with a vibrator to agitate the mixture in order to effect atomization thereof. Similar attempts to homogenize the air-gas mixture are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,260,699 and 1,035,614. But in all instances, the arrangements disclosed in the prior art possess certain practical drawbacks which have militated against their general commercial acceptance.